Euro zone see-saw offers little fun

Thursday, October 29, 2015 - 01:30

German joblessness fell slightly more than expected in October, while the unemployment rate held steady, pointing to steady growth in Europe's largest economy, despite a slowdown in emerging markets. But as Sonia Legg reports, low inflation remains a worry for the euro zone.

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An influx of migrants may be making German workers nervous about their jobs. But latest figures should reassure Unemployment held steady in October at 6.4 percent Frank-Juergen Weise heads the Federal Labour Office. (SOUNDBITE) (German) HEAD OF GERMANY'S FEDERAL LABOUR OFFICE, FRANK-JUERGEN WEISE, SAYING: "It keeps being said that migrants are a great burden on our government, but I don't see it that way. I have experience as a soldier. The risk of war is much higher." But Europe's largest economy is facing headwinds. Inflation turned positive again but only just - and elsewhere in the region it dipped below zero. Matthew Beesley is from Henderson Global Investors. (SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF GLOBAL EQUITIES, HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS, MATTHEW BEESELEY, SAYING: "Germany as an economy is driven by the export market and export markets are under pressure so for Germany it is hard to see where substanial job creation is going to come from at this present." Monetary stimulus from the ECB is helping the euro zone. But in a world where there's been a lot of that in recent years - another approach may be needed. SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF GLOBAL EQUITIES, HENDERSON GLOBAL INVESTORS, MATTHEW BEESELEY, SAYING: "It is now time for governments to step up and contribute to the monetary stimulus with some fiscal stimulus - the challenge is finding a way to impose co-ordinated fiscal stimulus across the world because stimulus in individual geographies is not going to be sufficient to accelerate global GDP growth." There were some other encouraging signs from the European Commission. Economic sentiment improved more than expected in October, particularly in retail and construction. And the business climate indicator rose instead of falling.

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